Weak Central Government

After America’s victory in the Revolutionary War, the people were very fearful of being under another strong national government. So in order to secure a weak central government, the Congress of 1777 created the Articles of Confederation. Unfortunately, the Articles worked too well by creating a weak central government. This led the nation into chaos, which forced states’ hand by revising their government. After the Articles of Confederation, America gained the United States Constitution, which is the government we are under today. While America abided by the rules of the Articles of Confederation, the central government bore little power in the nations and all true power rested on the states. “Under the Articles, the thirteen states retained their ‘sovereignty, freedom, and independence.’” (Foner 249). The national government only consisted of a unicameral legislature. Each state of the union could only cast one vote, regardless of

This new government has three branches of government: the judicial, legislative, and executive. All three branches are independent and serves to as a check and balance for each other, so one branch isn’t more powerful than the other. The legislative branch has a bicameral congress, which consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The senate has 2 representatives from each state while the amount of representatives for the House is determined by the state’s population. In the executive branch there is a president in charge of choosing Cabinet members and checks the powers of the other 2 branches. He also conduits foreign affairs and creates and approves laws in the government. The judicial branch interprets the laws on the Constitution, whenever there is a conflict about the laws of the land, the Supreme Court decides whether or not the laws coincides with the